Cutler hopeful for return, concedes his season may be over

For the first time since the world learned that Jay Cutler had fractured his thumb against the San Diego Chargers on Nov. 20, the Chicago Bears quarterback answered questions for the media Wednesday.

Among Cutler's revelations during a news conference at Halas Hall:

*Cutler had three screws and two pins inserted in his bone. Cutler said the pins need to come out sometime between three and 10 weeks. That apparently could involve more surgery before he takes the field again.

“It’s a matter if they are not hindering me throwing the ball, if I’m comfortable with them, if they aren’t pinching,” Cutler said. “There are a lot of factors.”

Cutler said he expects to lose some flexibility in his thumb.

*Cutler did not suffer ligament damage, and already has begun rehab.

Cutler said he is trying to get the movement back in the thumb and get the swelling to go down. He is not yet sure when he can begin throwing.

*In addition to fracturing the thumb, Cutler hyperextended it and dislocated it.

Cutler said he suffered the injury when he contacted a Chargers defender during an interception return. The thumb was not put back in the socket until his surgery three days later. Cutler also said the defender grabbed his facemask on the play, but it was not called.

*Cutler did not initially realize he was injured.

“I was (ticked) at Johnny (Knox) about the pick,” he said. “Coming to the sideline, I didn’t really know. I was more worried about talking to him, um, in a calm manner. After I settled down and went back out on the field I knew something was definitely wrong. I didn’t imagine I would have to have surgery.”

Cutler said during a timeout he told trainers there was something wrong with his thumb. He said he was uncomfortable and probably could not have played a whole game with the injury, but he was able to fight through it because not much time was left.

*Cutler is finding it difficult to sit out.

“This is horrible,” he said. “I don’t like this. I don’t like coming to meetings. I don’t like watching practice. I don’t like any of this. It’s not what I signed up for, it’s not anything I’ve been a part of. It’s definitely hard on me. The sooner I can get back out there, the better.”

*Cutler realizes he may be out for the season, but he’s not resigned to not playing again this year.

"We’ll have to see week by week and take some X-rays and CT scans and see if the bone is healing like it should be,” he said. “I don’t want to put a number on it because I don’t know.”

He said he has to balance his desire to play now with his interest in his long-term health.

“I have to be smart about it,” he said. “Obviously, I’d want to play next week if they’d allow me. I don’t think that’s going to be in the cards. It could be I’m done for the season. I just have to be smart about it and realize there is a long-term future here. At the same point, I want to be out there and my teammates want me to be out there.”

Cutler also talked about Caleb Hanie’s debut as a starter.

“It’s hard to come in as a backup,” he said. “Expectations were high for him. He’s been in the system but still he hasn’t experienced a lot of these plays in a game situation. I can only tell him so much. He’s got to go out there and learn for himself, which is the hard part. We have to be really careful with what kind of situations we put him in. Mike [Martz] has to be careful with that. We don’t really know what Caleb is comfortable with. Caleb doesn’t know what he’s comfortable with because he hasn’t run a lot of these plays … in a high-pressure situation.

“I think he’s going to get better and better. That second half was night and day from the first half. I think things were moving pretty quickly for him that first half and once he kind of settled down he started to play pretty well.”

Cutler also was asked if he has set a wedding date with Kristin Cavallari. He said he has not.